News in brief

Coke debuts British spring water brand Glacéau Smartwater

Coca-Cola Enterprises is launching a new bottled water line in the UK called Glaceau Smartwater and investing circa. $5.85m in bottling lines and water treatment processes at the Northumberland production site.

The drink will use spring water drawn from an underground aquifer at the Morpeth site, which will then be vapor distilled before electrolytes are added for a 'crisp, clean taste'.

Clearly CCE has learnt the lesson after getting a bloody nose in 2004 when it admitted to selling purified tap water in the UK under its Dasani banner.

"We would never say tap water isn't drinkable. It's just that Dasani is as pure as water can get," a spokeswoman told the BBC at the time.

CCE's £3.5m investment includes updates to production lines and the introduction of new water treatment processes at the site. The two-year investment plan also includes the installation of new blending and mixing equipment, and labeling technology to create transparent labels used for the Glacéau Smartwater range.

Coke's PET PlantBottles with 30% of plastic content from plant-based materials, and a lower carbon footprint that traditional plastic, will also be used.

CCE describes Glacéau smartwater as a "leading premium water brand in America", but says Britain will be the first European market for the product.

CCE hopes to capitalize on growth in the UK's £1.38bn UK bottled water category, which has grown 6% year on year (Canadean 2014 estimates) and is set to increase by 8% in the next three years (Zenith International forecasts, October 2013).

Pete Smith, operations director at CCE Morpeth, said: “The factory already has a proud history of producing high quality water for consumers across Great Britain and we are very much looking forward to bringing another to the market.

"At CCE we are dedicated to supporting local manufacturing across the country and the investment in our staff at Morpeth, as well as new equipment and production technology, is a statement of our commitment to this region,” Smith added.